♪ >> Major funding for "Reporters Roundtable" with David Cruz is provided by RWJBarnabas Health, let's be healthy together.

♪ David: Another year, another series of just so jersey happenings.

Hey, everybody.

It is Reporters Roundtable.

I'm David crisp radar final panel of 2024 includes Colleen O'Day, Peter Kenneth Burns, and Charles Stiles.

We are going to begin today with a look at this momentous year in New Jersey.

The gold bars, the party line, and drones in the night by saying hello to the director for New Jersey politics, Micah Rasmussen.

Welcome back to the show.

>> Thank you for having me.

David: You are at the Statehouse today?

>> I am.

David: You have kids there?

>> I have a bunch of high school kids running party platforms and all kinds of good stuff here.

David: Good stuff.

Listen, I've been around a while and grew up in Hudson County, so I have experienced my share of outlandishness from David Friedland, but 2024 was kind of epic, no?

Micah: I completely agree.

Boy, if you can write the ark of Bob Menendez in the indictment and then the convictions, and then Andy Kim coming in and Tammy Murphy coming in and the party line because it was denied to him, it is one big story.

2024 is one big arc and story with so much packed into it.

It is unbelievable.

Looking back on what we live through and how much has changed is unbelievable.

David: You touched on a couple of those things.

So much to choose from.

What is number one on your list of moment is events this year?

I know that is a hard one to pick.

Micah: The biggest surprise for me, which may be is not exactly what you asked, but I think the fact that Menendez is guilty on every single count, he immediately became a nonfactor.

We expected the jury to convict him of something, but everything?

How sloppy can an incumbent U.S. veteran Senator be?

It was a decisive slam dunk and left no daylight.

After that, we were not even thinking about his appeals and the world just kind of moved on from him.

It was such a stunning fall.

David: You made the point of how this is one story.

They all kind of impacted one another.

Menendez, that whole action started last year, but carried over.

Menendez led to Tammy Murphy and Andy Kim, and then the line lawsuit.

We should also give an honorable mention to Patricia compos Medina --Campos Medina, who gave us a timeline of politics over the summer.

Here she is.

Trying to keep her out, you know?

Micah: A picture is worth 1000 words, and it shows the lastgasp of the old way of doing business.

David: It struck me as I was getting ready for today that Andy Kim and Tammy Murphy, ARM decidedly on different trajectories.

Micah: Absolutely.

So I completely agree.

Andy Kim, in terms of consequence, I think Andy Kim is immediately easily the most consequential politician elected official we patted New Jersey now in decades, in generations.

The changes that he brought about.

It is important to remember.

I do not want to call accidental reform because he's committed to it, but what I mean as he was forced into this position I did not pick these fights.

He did not deny the line or take no for an answer.

He said he had to find another way and it led to this consequential change.

On how candidates are selected for office.

And it drags the party out of that trademark and that ownership they have had over the process.

They lost control of the process now and now the voters really will decide.

Imagine that, the voters decide in the primary who the candidates will be for the fault.

-- for the fall.

Parties will do that anymore by themselves anyway.

David: What is the end of the line mean going forward?

It is it affecting -- is it affecting strategy right now that we can see?

Micah: It is.

You have two front runners and the two members of Congress who are still trying to cobble together as much party support as they can, and it means something.

They still have fundraising, they still have organization ability.

They still have the know-how on how to run campaigns in their counties, so the fact she is lining up a lot of support in the counties is significant, but what it means, I think, is that other candidates who don't get that support are not out of the water.

They have a viable path to go directly to voters.

Will it work?

We don't know, but we know they are not down or out.

The way Tammy Murphy was last year or the weight other candidates had gone away once they supported party organizations, now there is another way to make this work.

Let's see if that outside lane if that really does turn out to be something that can be done in this new system.

David: Running out of time.

Trump effect on Jersey politics, clearly he did better in New Jersey than expected, and now there are Republican candidates for governor next year.

Most of them seem to be trying to say who was Trump here?

One may benefit the most from his association to the shadow of Donald Trump.

But the most loyal of the Republicans has been the trucker, Ed Dern, no?

Micah: I agree.

Jack is not seen as someone who was with Trump from the beginning.

And he is hoping it endears him, but Trump will remember that in past cycles, he wasn't the quickest to come around.

He's almost like the guy who has a problem with both sides because he is also the guy who was at the stop and steal rally.

You are right that we will be hearing a lot about the fact that he used to be pretty reasonable and said he wanted a viable path to citizenship, and now he has abandoned the Trump position and run from that as quickly as he can.

You are right, the guy who has been there all along probably has the least viable path to the nomination.

David: We are pretty sure the fields on the Democratic side is set.

I would run through all the names but I'd run out of time.

Micah: [LAUGHTER] David: There is a poll that shows supposedly Mikey Cheryl is leading.

I would think that is more name recognition than anything, right?

Micah: I agree.

Also the fact that she is the only woman -- he is able to distinguish yourself just in a poll by being someone who stands out from four white guys in the race.

That can change as name recognition changes on the campaign unfolds.

But it is a strength for her, and you would rather be heard them not.

David: I would like to bring this up because we were mostly joking about it, but Josh Gottheimer's Springsteen bona fides, lesser things have sunk campaigns.

That is something that goes to authenticity, no?

Micah: I never expected to get a phone call from "the Washington Post" about it yesterday.

This was national news now.

Real Jersey stuff here.

David: What is your sense on what the governor, the current Governor, does next?

He has been cozy also with the president and called him a good friend the other day.

Micah: This is a year on which we will see things winding down.

In a way, he hastened his own lame-duck status.

I probably will get in trouble for saying that, but at least politically, by putting it on the line for his wife' Senate run.

It may have been a smart family move, and he may have been happy with that decision, but it puts his political status into question.

Maybe he doesn't care about that and will finish his term.

From here on out, it is picking more of that as the cabinet MPs.

Second term is as consequentialist first terms.

We have budget cutbacks.

David: That is a good sports metaphor.

Michael Rasmussen, always good to talk -- Micah Rasmussen, always good to talk to you.

See you next year.

Panel, Colleen, Charles, Kenny, good to see you all.

Let's start with you, Charlie.

What stories helped shape the year for you and what is still impacting things?

Charlie: I clearly think the destruction of the line and the crumbling of Bob Menendez is totally correct, it is one big storyline, and then emergence of Andy Kim, but I think Andy Kim looking forward has made it very clear that this is a starting point.

He sees himself as a leader of a new -- he does not use the word progressive, but he sees himself as a leader of a new movement that is sort of going to change politics, primarily in the Democratic Party.

I was told last night that hearing the fundraiser of Princeton for Andrew's liquor, he was urging Democrats -- Andrew, he was urging Democrats to reach out to Republicans and make contact and listen to them and understand them.

I think he has brought ambitions, and I think you're going to see him be a significant leader going forward in the next year.

David: Colleen, what do you come up with when you look back at 2024?

I guess we are all in agreement that Andy Kim is the story of the year.

What Andy Kim, he got the line controversy.

He got the end of Tammy Murphy.

Colleen: As everyone else has said so far, it seems like everything is kind of tangled up and connected together.I do think the rise of Andy Kim is one of the biggest stories of the year.

If you think of August 2023, he was a little-known South Jersey Congressman who seemed very soft-spoken.

He did clean up the capitol after the riot, so he was known for that, but today he is a state, and a State Senator that people are looking for, looking to for guidance.

As Charlie just said, he is kind of thinking outside the box and talking about being respectful and talking to others.

Look during that first debate when there was a little glitch or whatever happened, and he was the first one to go up and say, are you OK?

He seems like a different kind of politician at this point.

David: All of it is tangled up altogether, isn't it?

What sticks out for you?

Kenny: Not to sound too repetitive, definitely the abolishment or the killing of the line at this point.

Andy Kim is definitely the man to watch going into 2025.

Bob Menendez, remember, it was on this program where I wrote that epitaph with that in mind, Bobby gold bars is done.

If we are going to talk reasonably, there is George Norcross who got indicted this year after many years of activists saying this guys no good, after the federal government probed him.

Matt plaque in -- Matt Plaken got an indictment and initial gravitas, George Norcross sat on the front row of his press conference, hearing the indictment.

When the lawyers are going back-and-forth now.

Next month, January 2025, is when we will hear the oral arguments of why those charges should get dismissed.

The question is, will they get dismissed?

That is up to the judge at this point.

David: I asked this to Micah before and said that Andy Kim and Tammy Murphy were undecided and on different trajectories.

Colleen, how much has what happened with Tammy Murphy impacted or how much will it impact her future political endeavors?

Colleen: I do think that she is not going to go away, if possible.

I think Phil Murphy is sending out many more emails and fundraising fees over going forward, which we have not seen for happening for most of the governorship.

She clearly has ambitions.

Is it that Phil would like to be president, might she try for a congressional seat?

Who knows?

I certainly don't think either of them is going away.

David: What about the Trump effect on New Jersey?

Politically for the GOP, we have established that one is the Trumpiest of all, but what impact do you think Trump will have on to a 25?

Kenny: It will definitely have an impact.

Which way it will go is hard to say at this point.

Looking at history at the top of my head, usually the party that is in the White House -- at least in New Jersey we have seen the opposite take effect.

For example, President Obama won in 2008 and then the following year he got Chris Christie.

Trump won his first term and then we got a Governor Murphy.

Whether it stays in Democratic hands -- I'm not so sure because the usual thing in politics we've had the last 20 years is way different now.

David: Charlie, Trump impact on the Republicans going forward?

The gubernatorial candidates?

Charles: Definitely Trump is energized the party a little bit.

I don't know the latest tally of total raw votes that he gained.

I think it is -- maybe Colleen knows that number.

At one point, it was 35, 40,000.

I'm sure it is almost double that.

I think it is.

Colleen: I think it is about 86.

Charles: 86,000.

I think the number, though, before the Republicans get a little too ahead of their skis is that the turnout of Democrats was very much depressed.

I think there was like a 17% drop from Harris' numbers from Biden's in 2020.

It is still pretty significant.

I think the wildcard in all of this for the Trump effect on 2025 is Trump and his conduct, once he gets into office.

Is he going to do boneheaded things like really start taking people, immigrants, off their worksites and out of homes and creating an uproar and embarrassment?

Is he going to start pardoning January 6 -- he says he's going to do that -- January people who are convicted?

Is he going to do a lot of things that are going to force the public to turn their heads in a 360 degree fashion and say, wait, I did not sign up for that?

This is not the way I would like my country to be governed.

I think there is the potential of some of that affecting the Republican race.

Finally, I would like to say, at the end of the day, despite the new energy in the Republican party to win New Jersey, you still have to be in the middle.

And Trump is still a pariah in the general election.

Kenny: Real quick to your point about immigration, I think that might -- I think there are more people out there who side with Trump than you realize more than we realize.

I was watching a YouTube video in Chicago, where you had Black residents confronting the mayor over sanctuary city policies.

You have the mayor of the road in New York who says I will sit down with Trump.

At this point, it might look horrible if -- to your point, it depends on how Trump carries himself.

I would not be surprised if people are thinking if they are not in this country illegally, they have to go -- legally, they have to go.

Charles: I will say -- David: I will say once you start losing your health care workers and your store clerks and your cleaning crews and all of those people -- Colleen: Lawn maintenance crews.

David: Once that starts impacting the economy, people are going to say, well, where is my guy?

Kenny: That's half the country -- he is out of the country, that is what happened to your guy.

Charles: And who are owning those companies?

They are not liberal Democrats.

They are Republicans.

They are going to be in war with their people.

And then there is the impact on inflation if we start driving up the cost of labor, it is going to -- Colleen: And with tariffs.

David: I'm going to move on on this one question.

I turn to you, Colleen, because you are the Springsteen expert.

Do you believe that Josh Gottheimer is a big Springsteen fan?

Colleen: Well, I might have believed it until what looks like a Dr. list came out.

-- doctored list came out.

If I had a Spotify list, which I don't, I listen to the tapes, the CDs directly.

Actually, now there transferred to play in my car.

Clearly, my Spotify list would have been legitimately all Springsteen.

David: Yep.

Lastly, with something that may have turned out to be important, these drones that are flying over New Jersey, Kenny, is it an invasion from Mars or is it Iraq or Iran in the Atlantic Ocean sending drones to spy on New Jersey?

Kenny: Hang gone.

Let me look out -- hang on.

Let me look out my window real quick.

[LAUGHTER] It is concerning.

It would be nice to know who the Hell is operating these things are where they are coming from.

These are one of the few bipartisan things that political leaders in New Jersey agree on.

Where did they come from?

It is nice to see them agree on something other than master dicing opera.

-- Oprah.

David: D me up, Charles?

-- Beam me up, Charles?

Charles: We are getting reassurances that it is not a foreign adversary, so who is it?

We don't know.

They have ruled that.

They cannot fill in the other blank, and that is what is driving people crazy.

David: Reporter caps off, Santa caps on.

Let's look in on Colleen's Christmas village.

Context.

This is your living room, yes?

Colleen: That is my dining room, but it is now creeping into my living room.

I do not host a large Christmas dinner because I don't have a daddy room table to do it on.

Just saw my new bookstore -- a dining room table to do it on.

You just saw my new bookstore, and you will see another addition, the hospital.

We have moved since COVID to adding medical facilities because there are a lot of people here, obviously, living.

And they do need doctors.

David: It looks like this is the NJPBS drone flying over the hospital.

Colleen: I hope these poor people in my village were not concerned by the drone sightings over their heads, as I took this video.

David: How many years have you done this now?

Colleen: Uh, 30, 30 years probably I think.

It all started with one tiny little pink house, and it has grown to this.

David: Do you have any idea how many pieces you have?

Colleen: It is more than 70, but I have not counted lately, and I do need to get a very big thank you and shout out to my sons and their significant others who helped do this because there is no way I could do this anymore by myself.

Kenny: You have a Krispy Kreme too!

Colleen: Definitely.

Charles: Where are the tennis courts?

Colleen: I'm going to have to put that on the list.

That is something I don't have.

David: That is great.

Kenny, you strike me as the character on national lamp in Christmas vacation -- "national Lampoon Christmas vacation" with the lights.

Kenny: Keep in mind, I don't have the services of drones, but I do have a iPhone camera, so this brings me back to childhood.

This is the front of my house in Middlesex County.

It started with the bushes, the window, I added the door, and then I felt the need to get a nativity scene.

It is the modern version.

My grandfather, God rest his soul, I would help him decorate.

He had icicles, lights on every bush, the Nativity, and the Santa Claus.

So I wanted to bring that, now that we do live in a house, albeit renting, I wanted to bring that tradition appear.

David: Very good.

Charles?

Do you have the Christmas spirit yet?

I know you are on deadline today and you are a little grumpy.

[LAUGHTER] Charles: No.

No.

We gradually phase into it.

We go into the 12 days of Christmas thing.

We don't get caught up into the commercialism a bit.

There 12 days and we party hard.

David: Nice.

Is that the rockin Santas?

Charles: That is Brenda Johnson, musician, rockstar.

David: [LAUGHTER] Nice.

Charles: I celebrate my colleague.

David: Nice.

This is my tree, which I mostly decorated on my own, by the way, with some help from Mary Lou.

The main thing about this tree is the latest Garland came from my mom who passed away a couple of years ago.

She made it herself, and it adorned the family Christmas tree for years.

It is special.

I got that up this year.

All we need now are some hot tidies or hot cocoa to make -- hot toddies or hot cocoa.

Our director has like 18 trees.

Here is one of them.

Kenny: You need to bring your director at NJPBS.

Charles: Mr. party reborn over there -- Mr. Pottery Barn over there.

David: Exactly.

Kenny: I like the stockings.

David: That is an impressive tree.

That is "Roundtable" for the year.

Charles, Kenny, Colleen, thank you and Happy Holidays.

Thank you to Micah Rasmussen for joining us.

You can follow the show at RoundtableNJ, if you dig the content, share it.

It makes a nice holiday gift.

You can pair it with a subscription to the YouTube channel.

I'm David Cruz.

We are often asked couple of weeks.

For all the crew here, have a great holiday for love love, peace, and joy.

Thank you for watching.

>> Major funding for "Reporters Roundtable" with David Cruz is provided by RWJBarnabas Health, let's be healthy together.

♪